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A bill passed earlier this year makes it mandatory for Pennsylvania school districts to have a written anti-bullying policy in place beginning next year.

Governor Rod Blagojevich Thursday signed Senate Bill 2512 legislation to help protect children from the dangers of the Internet. SB 2512 requires school districts, beginning in the 2009-2010 school year, to incorporate an "age-appropriate Internet safety unit of instruction in the current course of study regularly taught in the district's schools," beginning in third grade.

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt signed a bill Monday outlawing cyberbullying, just miles from where a 13-year-old girl committed suicide nearly two years ago after being harassed on the Internet.\n\nThe bill updates state laws against harassment by removing the requirement that the communication be written or over the telephone. Supporters say the bill now covers harassment from computers, text messages and other electronic devices.

Legal Implications for Searching Student Cell Phones. Although this article is written against Michigan law, it does help clarify some of the concepts for what is permissable. Note that searching a student's cell phone or wireless device without parent permission may violate state wiretapping laws.

Confiscating and looking at information on cell phones by school officials is still not clear. This is a very interesting case study for those working with digital citizenship issues at their school.

Fascinating article explaining Michigan take on searching and confiscating cell phones.

A group of freshmen from Scituate High, who recently talked about cyberbullying with a reporter, said it's a real problem and more than a buzzword. And school officials may have to do something about it if an anti-bullying bill approved by the state Senate on Thursday is signed into law.

Florida State lawmakers Monday took up a bill that would, for the first time, create a separate penalty for the increasingly common, and risqué, practice among teens - sending naked or suggestive pictures of themselves via cell phone or e-mail.

Several states have taken the NETS standards one to several steps further in identifying what K-12 education must achieve in terms of facilitating student proficiency in the defined skills. These efforts have, in some cases, led to standards being issued by each state for its own students to meet

This has great resources. I'm very excited to see New Jersey's focus on Career and Life Skills. However, not seeing the same focus in other states has me wishing for national standards.

Aghora Design Academy is a training Institute run by Aghora Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.The academy was entrusted with the responsibility of developing the new generation of technical manpower that can spearhead the industrial development of the state.Aghora Design Academy has been envisaged to be the grooming ground for the future engineers ,designers and researcers.

China now has the largest Internet population, with 253 million users. The U.S. is second with 223 million users. While 70 percent of Americans are online, only about 20 percent of Chinese are. Current growth trends indicate that, in the next few years,

The Internet was supposed to send America's public libraries the way of eight-track tapes and pay phones. But it turns out, they're busier than ever. Libraries have transformed themselves from staid, sleepy institutions into hip community centers offering

California State-approved technology plans that meet certain criteria must be in place before federal funding for technology may be secured by a school district. Education Code Section 51871.5 also requires the addition of a component to educate students and teachers on cyberbullying and Internet Safety, among other topics.

Get ready CIOs. They're coming. They have gadgets and doohickeys galore. They like their music downloadable and portable, and they grew up with the Internet, not before it. Their idea of community is socializing with people in other cities or countries through Facebook, MySpace or instant messages, and they use e-mail so often they probably think snail mail is an endangered species. They're the Millennials - those tech-savvy, 20-somethings and-under bound to warm up scores of office chairs left cold by retiring baby boomers. There's a good chance many will come to a government workplace near you, but their digital literacy could prove worrisome for security-conscious bosses.

Existing law, the Interagency School Safety Demonstration Act of 1985, states that the intent of the Legislature in enacting its provisions is to encourage school districts, county offices of education, law enforcement agencies, and agencies serving youth to develop and implement interagency strategies, in-service training programs, and activities that will, among other things, reduce school crime and violence, including bullying. Existing law establishes the School/Law Enforcement Partnership and charges it with undertaking several efforts intended to reduce school crime, as specified,including bullying.

This bill would specify that bullying, as used in these provisions,means one or more acts by a pupil or a group of pupils directed against another pupil that constitutes sexual harassment, hate violence, or severe or pervasive intentional harassment, threats, or intimidation that is disruptive, causes disorder, and invades the rights of others by creating an intimidating or hostile educational environment, and includes\nacts that are committed personally or by means of an electronic act, as defined.

Existing law prohibits the suspension, or recommendation for expulsion, of a pupil from school unless the principal determines that the pupil has committed any of various specified acts, including, but not limited to, hazing, as defined. This bill, in addition, would give school officials grounds to suspend a pupil or recommend a pupil for expulsion for bullying, including, but not limited to, bullying by electronic act.

Because cyberbullying is such a new phenomenon, school and law enforcement officials in the United States and other countries are still sorting out the legal technicalities. "Most of what is done online is protected as free speech," says Frannie Wellings, policy fellow at the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, DC.

Ohio State Bar Association questions and answers on cyberbullying in the schools.

On June 30th, Missouri governor, Matt Blunt, signed a bill updating state laws against harassment by removing the requirement in the legislation requiring that such harassing communication be written or made over the telephone. Now, harassment from computers, text messages and other electronic devices may also be considered illegal. The amended law also requires school boards to create a written policy requiring schools to report harassment and stalking committed on school property to local police, including such done via the Internet.

2005 Report by Dr. Beth Manke, Associate Professor, Human Development, California State University, Long Beach. Often the most dramatic incidents of cyberbullying get the attention of educators, parents and the authority. Those incidents that involve threats, particularly death threats and those that result in school shootings and suicide attempts prompt intervention for both the perpetrators and victims. We must remember, however, that all cyberbullying, even the less dramatic incidents including the spreading of rumors and saying mean things online can be harmful as they can erode a child's self esteem and confidence and lead to later academic difficulties, interpersonal problems and psychological distress.

As students across the country return to school, school districts face an often complicated and confusing legal landscape on how to deal with cyber bullies in their schools, according to Todd DeMitchell, EdD, a professor of education, who studies school liability, adequate supervision, and responses to preventing bullying and cyber bullying from school administrators and state legislatures.

Child predators offering game points in exchange for nude images through Internet-connected video games have prompted a warning for parents. "Kids are playing games, and they are being asked to take photos of themselves naked in order to get game points," state attorney Cybercrime Detective Lt. David Maurer said. "There is not only the chatting version of the games but also a webcam involved."